Mike Rowe Bends Romney's Ear on the Glory of Blue Collar Work

4 Sep 2012

Mike Rowe doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.

The reality show star behind “Dirty Works” wants to share his experiences in the job field with Gov. Mitt Romney. Rowe knows plenty about the blue-collar jobs, and he has something to share about the topic with the GOP candidate:

Dear Governor Romney,

My name is Mike Rowe and I own a small company in California called mikeroweWORKS. Currently, mikeroweWORKS is trying to close the country’s skills gap by changing the way Americans feel about Work. (I know, right? Ambitious.) Anyway, this Labor Day is our 4th anniversary, and I’m commemorating the occasion with an open letter to you. If you read the whole thing, I’ll vote for you in November.

First things first. mikeroweWORKS grew out of a TV show called “Dirty Jobs.” If by some chance you are not glued to The Discovery Channel every Wednesday at 10 p.m., allow me to visually introduce myself. That’s me on the right, preparing to do something dirty.

When “Dirty Jobs” premiered back in 2003, critics called the show “a calamity of exploding toilets and misadventures in animal husbandry.” They weren’t exactly wrong. But mostly, Dirty Jobs was an unscripted celebration of hard work and skilled labor. It still is. Every week, we highlight regular people who do the kind of jobs most people go out of their way to avoid. My role on the show is that of a “perpetual apprentice.” In that capacity I have completed over three hundred different jobs, visited all fifty states, and worked in every major industry.